2So 



HARDWJCKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



GEOLOGY, &c. 



The Denudation ix America. — .Mr. T. Mellaid- 

 Read, C.E., F.G.S., in the annual address to the 

 Liverpool Geological Society, chose for his subject 

 "The Denudation of the Two Americas." After an 

 introduction dwelling on the importance to geology 

 of an accurate determination of the magnitude of the 

 agencies engaged in fashioning the earth, it was 

 shown from careful analyses and calculations that the 

 river Mississippi brought down and delivered into the 

 Gulf of ^Mexico matter in solution in its waters equal 

 to 150 million tons per annum. Analyses of the 

 waters of the La Plata, the St. Lawrence, and the 

 Amazon were then given, and the amount denuded 

 by chemical agencies from each river basin \Nas cal- 

 culated, the author arriving at the conclusion that a 

 mean of lOO tons per square mile per annum of matter 

 in solution is removed from the American continent 

 by rivers draining into the Atlantic Ocean. The 

 author had on a previous occasion calculated that 

 100 tons per square mile per annum was the mean 

 chemical denudation of the whole of the land of the 

 globe. Taking this determination as a unit of 

 measure, the astounding result was arrived at, that 

 all the rivers draining into the Atlantic Ocean from 

 America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, an area ec^ual to 

 21 million square miles, delivered into it, each six 

 years, one cubic mile of mineral salts in solution, 

 estimating them as reduced to rock at two tons to the 

 cubic yard. 



The Irish Drift. — An important paper appears 

 in the Scientific Proceedings of the Royal Dublin 

 Society by G. H. Kinahan, M.R.LA., on "The 

 Classification of the Boulder Clays and their Asso- 

 ciated Gravels." He thinks that some of the gravels, 

 &c., under glacial drift may be younger than the over- 

 lying deposits, owing to the ice-sheet melting above 

 and below, so as to leave cakes and patches on 

 differing horizons. The waters due to such cakes 

 when they finally melted away, would wash portions 

 of the glacial ilrift into sands and gravels formed and 

 arranged subsequent to the overlying drift. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Birds and Arum. — If F. J. George, who, in the 

 November number, p. 262, asks if "any thing is 

 known of birds or ground game eating off the spathe 

 and spadix of Ariiiii viaciilatnni" will look in 

 Gilbert White's " Natural History of Selborne," 

 Letter XV., dated March 30th, 1768, he will there 

 see an answer to his question. — N. A. D. 



Large Umos. — Mr. Tuxford's note of U. pic- 

 toriim measuring 4|i] in. just surpasses the 47u in. 

 Leicestershire specimen recorded by Norman. Mr. 

 Tuxford, I presume, is sure of his species ? Such 

 measurements are normal for Anodon cyginciis, a 

 very similar-looking shell, of which I hold a 6| in. 

 specimen, taken under identical circumstances. — 

 Ernest G. Harmer. 



Reptiles Eating their Sloughs. — With 

 respect to newts eating their cast-off skins, this, I 

 think, they invariably do, as I have noticed it 

 frequently. The toad, it is well known, has the same 

 habit. A tame toad that I kept for a number of years 

 used to retire into a deep hole, and first proceed to 

 take off his old clothes, by rubbing his hands down 

 his sides, till the skin Ijccame wrinkled and loose ; he 

 then seized the skin of his breast with his mouth and 

 stript it up, drawing it over his head with his hand>. 

 The skin of his right arm and hand he drew off like a 

 glove Vv'ith his left hand ; then, changing hands, served 

 the other the same. His stockings he drew off, by 

 grasping the skin of his toes in his hand and pulling 

 and hauling it off, always ending by making a meal 

 of it. Though I had him from his babyhood to 

 full-grown toadhood, and he was always very tame 

 and familiar, I only saw him change his skin three 

 or four times, as he would always retire out of sight 

 in the darkest hole he could find. His companions 

 in the same case were a fine slowworm (which, :by the 

 way, was the largest I ever saw, being 18 inches long), 

 and a salamander {Sahi'jiandra maculosa) ; the toad 

 and the salamander were very good friends, generally 

 occupying the same hole ; but Ben (the toad) and 

 the slowworm never could agree, Ben being of a 

 waggish disposition, often sallying out, seizing it by 

 the tail, and making a great show of swallowing it 

 alive, probably mistaking it for an extra fine earth- 

 worm. Occasionally Ben would seize one end of a 

 worm, and the slowworm, the other ; and then would 

 commence a struggle fierce and long, generally 

 ending in a victory for the slowworm, when Ben 

 would retire in disgust to sulk, and, though offered 

 fresh worms, would refuse them for an hour or so till 

 he had forgotten his disappointment, and his temper 

 had become smooth again. One morning I found 

 the slowworm dead, having lived with me but ten or 

 eleven months. Ben got very stout and very 

 restless, so I gave him his liberty, though sorry to 

 part with him. The salamander died this summer, 

 having lived with me seven years. — G. Carrie. 



The Camel. (Camehcs haclrianus). — There was 

 a statement in the " Field," a few months back, as 

 to the probability of the camel (the above species, I 

 suppose), still existing in a wild state in Asia, accord- 

 ing to the testimony of a recent traveller — I forget 

 his name. Has this been confirmed ? The camel 

 used in Egypt, and that which is commonly known 

 by that name, is the dromedary {€. droviedrius), 

 is it not ? and is, also, I suppose, the one mentioned in 

 the Scriptures. Will some reader kindly reply ? — ■ 

 Henry Lamb, Maidstone. 



The Hedgehog {Erinaceus Enropccns). — This 

 animal evidently has not any religious sentiment, or 

 it would understand that cleanliness is next to godli- 

 ness, which would make it as agreeable as it is useful 

 in a kitchen as a beetle-trap. We had one for a 

 short time, and it used to clear up the cat's food, 

 bread and milk, cr anything else ; they will eat nearly 

 anything, slugs, insects, &c., but my father says, and 

 another confirms his opinion, that they could not 

 manage a live rabbit. It is nocturnal in its habits, 

 and my father knows a man who says that when he 

 has been out of a night sugaring it has frequently 

 come up quite close to him to watch for any insects 

 which might fall. It hybernates during the winter, 

 and my father and others say the same, that they 

 have frequently found it in the middle of a wood 

 stack, and thickly covered with leaves like bills on a 

 file. No doubt this is done for a double purpose : 

 warmth, and to hide itself from being seen. My 



